r that privilege.

When Dr. Ross whispered to me that Colonel Hunt might be induced to
sell, my ears cocked themselves instantly. He wished an extortionate
price, the doctor thought, and I heard nothing further for some time.
When indisposed in London in the autumn of 1902, my mind ran upon the
subject, and I intended to wire Dr. Ross to come up and see me. One
morning, Mrs. Carnegie came into my room and asked me to guess who had
arrived and I guessed Dr. Ross. Sure enough, there he was. We talked
over Pittencrieff. I suggested that if our mutual friend and
fellow-townsman, Mr. Shaw in Edinburgh (Lord Shaw of Dunfermline) ever
met Colonel Hunt's agents he could intimate that their client might
some day regret not closing with me as another purchaser equally
anxious to buy might not be met with, and I might change my mind or
pass away. Mr. Shaw told the doctor when he mentioned this that he had
an appointment to meet with Hunt's lawyer on other business the next
morning and would certainly say so.

I sailed shortly after for New York and received there one day a cable
from Mr. Shaw stating that the Laird would accept forty-five thousand
pounds. Should he close? I wired: "Yes, provided it is under Ross's
conditions"; and on Christmas Eve, I received Shaw's reply: "Hail,
Laird of Pittencrieff!" So I was the happy possessor of the grandest
title on earth in my estimation. The King--well, he was only the King.
He didn't own King Malcolm's tower nor St. Margaret's shrine, nor
Pittencrieff Glen. Not he, poor man. I did, and I shall be glad to
condescendingly show the King those treasures should he ever visit
Dunfermline.

As the possessor of the Park and the Glen I had a chance to find out
what, if anything, money could do for the good of the masses of a
community, if placed in the hands of a body of public-spirited
citizens. Dr. Ross was taken into my confidence so far as Pittencrieff
Park was concerned, and with his advice certain men intended for a
body of trustees were agreed upon and invited to Skibo to organize.
They imagined it was in regard to transferring the Park to the town;
not even to Dr. Ross was any other subject mentioned. When they heard
that half a million sterling in bonds, bearing five per cent interest,
was also to go to them for the benefit of Dunfermline, they were
surprised.[60]

[Footnote 60: Additional gifts, made later, brought this gift up to
$3,750,000.]

It is twelve years since the Glen w